Warning: This article contains images that may be triggering for some readers.
Chelsea Manning, the former whistleblower and transgender activist, is safe, according to her Twitter account, after posting and then deleting an apparent suicide warning.
Late Sunday night, Manning tweeted two apologies and posted a photo that appeared to have been taken from the ledge of a building overlooking a street.
“I’m sorry—I tried—I’m sorry I let you all down—I’m not really cut out for this world,” she wrote in one of the now-deleted tweets. “I tried adapting to this world out here but I failed you—I couldn’t do this anymore—I can take people I don’t know hating me but not my own friends—I tried and I’m sorry about my failure.”
Then, Manning posted a photo of two feet close to the edge of the building with the caption, “I’m sorry.”
— Grifter (@LeftistCuck) May 28, 2018
Manning’s tweets sparked an immediate reaction on Twitter with people desperately asking if anybody knew a way to contact her.
Manning attempted suicide in 2016 while she was serving a 35-year prison sentence for leaking government files to WikiLeaks. A few months later, she began a hunger strike to protest what she believed was the U.S. government’s lack of care for her gender dysphoria. Manning was released from prison in 2017 after President Barack Obama commuted her sentence.
Soon after Manning’s original tweet on Sunday night, this appeared on her timeline.
** chelsea is safe. she is on the phone with friends, thanks everyone for your concern and please give her some space
— Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) May 28, 2018
Manning last week declared her disappointment with a lack of enthusiasm from voters and intimated that she didn’t think taking part in that civil duty could make a difference.
ive been knocking on doors and making phone calls all over Maryland lately – most people aren't interested in voting, or elections, or civil discourse anymore – theyve heard it all before – they dont think it will make a difference – and they are right
— Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) May 23, 2018
we cant expect any change thru the upcoming elections – the primaries are rigged – this so-called "blue wave" is gonna be more like a blue ripple, or a blue drip – establishment dems always happily vote for a warmer friendlier police state – change wont come thru any ballot
— Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) May 23, 2018
voting wont change anything – protesting with chants and signs and holding hands isnt gonna change anything either – we need more than that – we cant wait anymore – we need something radically different and we cant just ask for it or expect it to happen somehow
— Chelsea E. Manning (@xychelsea) May 23, 2018
Dawn Ennis, the person to whom Manning was originally responding to in the now-deleted tweets, is a former ABC News producer who came out as trangender in 2013. She responded to Manning’s tweets, writing late Sunday night, “I truly wish her well. And I expect a new wave of online anger and hate to greet me, too. Be kind to all those who struggle. I myself will work harder to bear that in mind.”
On Monday morning, Ennis tweeted this.
Just a note asking for love and kind thoughts for @xychelsea this morning and hopes she is in the continued care of friends. I too am a suicide attempt survivor. I hope ppl will join me in learning from this, to try to be kind. You never know how much someone is struggling.
— Dawn Ennis (She/Her/Hers) (@lifeafterdawn) May 28, 2018
In January, Manning filed paperwork to run for a U.S. Senate seat in Maryland. The Democratic primary will be held June 26.
For more information about suicide prevention or to speak with someone confidentially, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (U.S.) or Samaritans(U.K.).